


emergency boyfriend

by lesmiserablol



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Flirting, Former Jet/Zuko, Getting Together, M/M, jet is zuko's ex and sokka is the mvp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24932779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesmiserablol/pseuds/lesmiserablol
Summary: “Can you be my boyfriend?”Somehow, Sokka manages to not choke on his tea. He slowly puts his cup down as he looks across the table at the seat that had been empty just moments before but is now occupied with a panicked looking employee. This is his first time visiting the Jasmine Dragon, but if he’s going to be ambushed by attractive people every time he comes by, he might just become a regular.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 152
Kudos: 3571
Collections: i love coffeeshop aus way too much help





	emergency boyfriend

**Author's Note:**

> Have I mentioned how much I love you guys for reading my fics? Seriously, every kudo and comment just makes me want to do cartwheels of happiness. Y'all are the best <3

“Can you be my boyfriend?”

Somehow, Sokka manages to not choke on his tea. He slowly puts his cup down as he looks across the table at the seat that had been empty just moments before but is now occupied with a panicked looking employee. This is his first time visiting the Jasmine Dragon, but if he’s going to be ambushed by attractive people every time he comes by, he might just become a regular. 

His eyes take a quick inventory of the sight before him. The man’s golden eyes are wide in panic, one eye surrounded by red scar tissue that disappears below his hair. His dark hair is loose across his face, some of it almost falling into his eyes, and the black v-neck he is wearing dips very low. Sokka's brain immediately supplies him with, 'Yes, I would love to be your boyfriend,' but luckily for him, his brain-to-mouth filter miraculously works even in the face of beautiful strangers. 

“Excuse me?” he says instead, voice uncharacteristically small. 

“Please, I’ll explain later,” the employee - Sokka glances at his name tag, Zuko - hisses. 

Before he can react, Zuko grabs Sokka’s hand that is resting on the table and forces a loud laugh. At first, Sokka is thrown off. Who does this man think he is? But when he feels how warm his skin is and when he sees the way his nose scrunches as he laughs, his slight irritation melts away and he finds himself transfixed. 

“Zuko?” another man’s voice says, and Zuko stops laughing, looking around in feigned surprise. 

“Jet!” he says, eyes widening. Sokka cringes at how forced it all sounds. Seriously, this guy could use some lessons in acting. “I didn’t see you there!”

Sokka looks over to a man sitting just a couple tables away. Jet looks to be about their age with skin a few shades darker than Zuko's own pale face. His hair is dark brown and straight, and as he runs a hand through it Sokka gets a glimpse of his thick eyebrows. 

“I didn’t realize you still worked here,” Jet says. 

“Well, my uncle enjoys having me here, he doesn’t trust a lot of people to handle making his tea,” Zuko shrugs. 

“Right,” Jet says, glancing at the person with him at his table. “You remember my friend, Longshot?”

“Yes, of course,” Zuko says, returning the nod Longshot gives him. “And this is my...boyfriend.”

He squeezes Sokka’s hand briefly, as if to say _please_ , and Sokka squeezes back. 

“I’m Sokka. It’s nice to meet you, Chet,” he beams, and Jet’s eyes narrow. He’s chewing on a toothpick, ignoring his drink on the table. 

“It’s Jet,” he corrects, and Sokka shrugs. 

“Tomato, tomahto. I’m Sokka, boyfriend extraordinaire to this tall drink of water - or, should I say, tea?”

His friend (Longshot? What kind of name is that anyway?) cracks a smile at that as Jet’s irritated expression stays plastered on his face. 

Sokka glances at Zuko and feels satisfied to find him blushing and looking slightly surprised. If they’re going to sell this, they need to really sell it, so he pulls Zuko’s knuckles to his lips and kisses him there for good measure. Zuko seems to relax slightly, his smile looking more natural now. 

“Stop, you just love to embarrass me, don’t you?” Zuko says, his tone so soft that Sokka’s heart flutters. 

“It’s what I do best,” he winks back, then he remembers a detail from earlier. “Remember the first time I met your uncle? He still asks me to repeat the hilarious story of our first kiss sometimes.”

Zuko snorts. “It could be worse. I could’ve sent you my reaction to said kiss in a text that was actually meant for my sister.”

“Hey,” Sokka smirks. “I tell Katara everything, and that includes the keyboard smashes and ridiculous amount of emojis that are warranted when we finally got together. I refuse to be embarrassed about sending you that text on accident.”

Zuko laughs again, but this time it’s genuine, and it’s the most beautiful sound in the entire world. Sokka wants it to be his ringtone. He wants to hang up posters with a picture of Zuko and the caption “Have you heard this man laugh?” so he can find people who are missing out and bring them an extra bit of joy in their lives. 

He’s so caught up in the act that he almost forgot about the two people they had unintentionally left out of the conversation, but Jet clears his throat and Sokka looks over at them. 

“Well, we should get going, but...it was good to see you again. You two...seem really happy,” Jet says. 

“We are,” Zuko beams, and Sokka nods. 

“That’s good,” Jet offers him a small smile, still chewing on a toothpick. “Well, see you around, Zuko.”

He and Longshot grab their drinks and walk out the door, Zuko holding his breath (and Sokka’s hand) until they walk past the windows of the tea shop and disappear. 

As soon as they’re out of sight, he leans back in his chair, letting go of Sokka but keeping his hand close on the table. Sokka immediately misses the warmth and has half a mind to grab him again. 

“Thank you,” he says, looking at Sokka nervously. “I’m sorry if that was weird, I just...”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sokka smiles, shrugging. “Ex-boyfriend?”

Zuko nods. “It didn’t last long, thank God, but it ended in a bad fight. I was worried he would see me and I’d be caught off my guard, so thanks for backing me up. Calling him Chet was a nice touch.”

Sokka smirks. “Anytime. It seemed to really irritate him, which is what I was going for. And I’m impressed that you guessed correctly about me having a sister.”

“I got lucky, I guess,” Zuko smiles softly. 

“Right. Lucky,” Sokka echoes. He thinks about how his day started off on the wrong foot and how he, refusing to believe in bad luck, decided to take matters into his own hands and treat himself to some tea, which led him to Zuko. Okay, so maybe luck does exist... “I’m Sokka. I mean, you know that now, but I figure we should properly introduce ourselves.”

“Fair enough. I’m Zuko. Thanks again, you make a really great boyfriend,” Zuko says, then his eyes go wide as he realizes what he just said. “I mean, fake boyfriend. But I’m sure you are a great real boyfriend, too. Not that I...I mean not to say I wouldn’t...well I...are you even interested in guys?” he winces.

“I play for both teams, that way I always win,” Sokka replies, noticing how Zuko’s eyes light up. 

“Oh, well that’s great. For you I mean,” Zuko trails off, and Sokka reaches out to grab his hand again. 

“You make pretty good tea,” Sokka says thoughtfully, and Zuko’s nervous expression relaxes into a smile. “And I make pretty good dinners. Maybe you can come to my apartment sometime and try them for yourself?”

“Yeah, that sounds nice,” Zuko says, his shoulders relaxing. “Um, I should probably get back to work now.”

“What time are you off?”

Zuko glances at his watch. “In half an hour.”

“Alright, I’ll be here waiting for you.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“You’re right, I don’t. But I’m going to, so I can plan an awesome first date.”

Zuko smiles. “I would like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on tumblr! I have a [main tumblr](https://lesmiserablol.tumblr.com/) and an [Avatar the Last Airbender blog](https://bisexuallsokka.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
